


Athaenaeum

by havocthecat



Series: then there was a star danced, and under that was I born [3]
Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Books, F/F, Femslash, Reading, coming home
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-10
Updated: 2014-06-10
Packaged: 2018-02-04 03:51:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,027
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1764543
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/havocthecat/pseuds/havocthecat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kate and Elizabeth return to Atlantis hand-in-hand. That's not what everyone notices.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Athaenaeum

**Author's Note:**

> Also posted [here on Dreamwidth](http://havocs-cry.dreamwidth.org/2014/06/10/athenaeum.html).

"You're going to have to brave the commissary some time," said Kate. She lay on her side on Elizabeth's bed, the covers carelessly tossed over her as she dragged her fingertips up and down Elizabeth's bare side. "Not to mention your office. Everybody is glad to have you back. Teyla is looking forward to handing at least some of the paperwork off to you."

"That would be the why I spent twelve thousand years in stasis," said Elizabeth, propping her head up on her arm. "Because I wanted to get back to doing paperwork and handling supply issues."

"It could be worse," said Kate, looking a little nervous herself. "Everyone found out I'm an Ancient. Rodney found out and started ranting in the middle of the astrophysics lab."

"Ouch." Elizabeth winced and gave her a look that said she'd remembered just how much handling that Rodney took. "How's that going?"

"About as well as you'd expect." Kate sounded rueful. "I'll brave the commissary if you do, though. He can't kidnap me and lock me up in his lab if we're in public."

Elizabeth laughed. "He wouldn't."

Kate's mouth curved up in that tiny smile that said she could read motivation better than Elizabeth. "He says that if I can even remember anything about ZPMs, he needs to know about it. Even if it was my brother that worked in that field, not me. Are you sure about that?" 

"I'm not hungry," said Elizabeth, and the look Kate gave her after that made her sheepish. "All right, I'm hungry. Just not hungry enough to go out and face the well wishers. Do you know I've already gotten a dozen emails asking me to countermand orders Teyla has given?"

"Do we have a dozen people with death wishes?" asked Kate, covering her mouth and trying not to laugh. "Do I need to schedule extra PTSD support group meetings for the next few months?"

"We have at least two dozen Athosian petitions to move to the city of the Ancestors again," said Elizabeth. "Do they think that you have responsibilities to them? Do you have responsibilities to them?"

"In a way, I've got responsibilites to every living being in this galaxy," said Kate, shivering when Elizabeth splayed her palm out on Kate's hip. "In another way, I'm only one woman, and only an anthropologist at that. I can only do so much. The Athosians have always been special to me, though. I'm glad they remember that."

"Everyone on Atlantis wants to pick your brain, don't they?" asked Elizabeth. It was hard not to laugh at Kate's panicked look. "The anthropologists have been camping out in the control room in shifts to hand over their research proposals."

"I don't have all the answers," said Kate. She was trying not to look at the door, Elizabeth could tell, but they both half-expected it to chime with someone else who needed information. Elizabeth, not even the ascended are omniscient. It just looks that way from the outside."

"But you are tens of thousands of years old." Elizabeth propped herself up on one arm and studied Kate. She looked the same as when she'd been Caia, except for a few extra lines around her eyes and a softness to her smile when she looked at Elizabeth. "Your grade school knowledge is more advanced than our entire astrophysics team's college degrees."

"You're assuming I remember anything past fifth dimension math, which I don't," pointed out Kate. "Not to mention that I don't think I remember any of that well enought to explain it."

"Fifth dimension math?" Elizabeth shook her head. "No wonder Rodney wants to move quarters in case you talk in your sleep. Which, I assured him, you don't."

"Elizabeth!" exclaimed Kate, torn between laughter and feeling horrified.

The cat was out of the bag. Everyone knew. It was hard to hide when they had walked back into the city holding hands, each unwilling to let the other go. To be fair, their relationship had been overshadowed by Kate's knowledge as an Ancient and Elizabeth's return in control - however hard-won or ephemeral it might be - of her own nanites.

"Maybe I should move back with the Athosians," said Kate, pressing her lips together. "I liked just being the expedition therapist. I'd hoped we'd be able to keep this between you, Teyla, and John."

"That lasted until you decided to bring the Quindosim back to Atlantis," said Elizabeth. Kate shouldn't have made a decision like that for the city, not without consulting John and Teyla, though Elizabeth couldn't argue with her. It had been the right thing to do. "They won't stop talking about you."

"It's a little disturbing," said Kate. She glanced at the hallway. "Do you know they've taken to leaving offerings outside my door? I've asked them not to. Teyla tells me the Athosians wouldn't. Of course, Teyla doesn't take me seriously."

"They're leaving offerings? That has to stop," said Elizabeth, frowning. She should have known about that. There was a time she'd have been aware of everything on Atlantis without anyone telling her about it. She just knew. "Kate, I had no idea."

"I didn't tell you. How would you know?" Kate looked a bit lost in thought, with her lips pressed together into a white line. "I keep bringing the offerings back and spending time with them instead. I suppose I should have realized that something like this would happen, but I'd gotten too used to thinking of myself as part of the expedition."

"What are you going to do about it?" asked Elizabeth. Other than drag Elizabeth out to meals and shove her back into the world she'd left behind ten months and twelve thousand years ago.

"I have no idea," admitted Kate. She smiled ruefully at Elizabeth. "There are benefits. At least now I can go and dig out my favorite novels from the database. It's been a few thousand years since I've read them."

"Kate Heightmeyer." Elizabeth bolted up and stared down at Kate. "Do you mean to tell me there are books in this city that I haven't read and you hid them from me?"

\--end--


End file.
